Physicality, speed is what Perry wants to see

Panthers ready for first test of the preseason when they welcome in Buchtel for Thursday's scrimmage.

Chris Easterling IndeOnline.com Sports Editor @ceasterlingINDE

PERRY TWP. There's a lot of things Perry coach Keith Wakefield wants to see when his team holds its first scrimmage of the preseason Thursday.

Much of what he wants to see centers around how the Panthers can handle the specific challenges they will be presented by Buchtel, which will pay a visit to Perry Stadium at 5 p.m. Wakefield's been around long enough to know the kind of teams that will provide the necessary tests to prepare his team for the season's challenges.

What the Griffins do is exactly what Wakefield wants to see Perry face.

"Buchtel is always a physical team and their kids are fast," Wakefield said before Wednesday's two-a-day practice. "So it's hard to maintain blocks. ... Their kids get off blocks well; it's hard to block them because they're so quick."

While the test Buchtel's defense will provide the Panthers' inexperienced offensive line is a big one, it's the challenge its offense will provide the Perry defense that Wakefield is truly interested in seeing. The Griffins' offense thrives on getting their skill players into space and creating mismatches with defenders.

The veteran Panther coach wants to know if his defense can handle making the play in those kind of situations.

"Defensively, we have to be able to get them on the ground and tackle them in space," Wakefield said. "Everybody plays in space now. That's sometimes our nemesis. Our kids just aren't super quick."

Wakefield just needs to put in the film of December's Division II state championship rematch with La Salle to show what he means. The game's complexion changed in the second half when the Lancers put the elusive Tre'Sean Smith in at quarterback in place of the more traditional drop-back quarterback Griffin Merritt.

Smith's ability to make play in space against the Panthers' defense resulted in 127 second-half rushing yards and both La Salle scores in the 14-7 Lancer win. It's that kind of ability to elude open-field tackles that Wakefield wants his defense to nullify, especially since he knows it's the same thing his team will see up and down its schedule.

"When you get in our league and you play against Jackson, McKinley, GlenOak and those teams, their athletes are usually better than ours," Wakefield said. "That's one of the reasons why we go against Buchtel. It helps us."

The scrimmage - one of two for the Panthers, with the other coming Aug. 17 at home against Wadsworth - is also big for Wakefield just to find out who his real football players are going to be this season. He admits he has a handful of players he's confident in because of their track record over the last season or two.

However, Wakefield also knows it's going to take more than just a handful to sustain the kind of success Perry has enjoyed over the last couple of seasons. Who joins that handful is something he expects to start finding out on Thursday.

"That's probably, it's not a worry, it's a fact," Wakefield said. "We've got a lot of 'maybes' or 'could-bes,' but we don't know yet. I think we have seven or eight football players that we know of because they played last year and hopefully will be good players again. But they're on the fringes: (defensive backs) or receivers or linebacker guys. The (offensive) line and (defensive) line is very questionable."

Which goes back to the challenge the Panthers will see from Buchtel. In the four days since full-contact drills have been permitted, Perry had a short intrasquad scrimmage on the first day of contact and then separate goal-line situation and passing scrimmages.

Outside of that, however, Wakefield admits a true gauge is difficult to get within the confines of practice.

"It's hard to get a good look in practice," Wakefield said. "That's the negative. Even though we try to put the good guys against the good guys part of the time, you don't get enough of that. The first scrimmage really starts to tell the tale of who can play and who can't. You start to build your team from that."

Reach Chris at 330-775-1128 or chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

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